Worcester’s First Annual Innovation Month Begins April 1

Worcester, March 24, 2015 -- The Venture Forum (TVF), in collaboration with entrepreneur-focused organizations, announces Worcester’s first annual Innovation Month beginning April 1, 2015 and ending May 7, 2015. Events throughout the month will include a discussion of diabetes research opportunities, a pitch contest, a networking event, the opening of a downtown innovation center and a celebration of a dozen new entrepreneurs.

In what is expected to be an annual event, Innovation Month celebrates local innovation and introduces the community to the resources, including incubators and accelerators, which support Worcester-area entrepreneurs. Conceived and organized by The Venture Forum, Innovation Month offers a variety of events throughout the five-week period, intended “to celebrate past and present local innovation,” said Joe Vignaly, Chair of The Venture Forum and co-founder of Innovation Month, together with Rosemarie Boulanger. As the series emerged, “the idea for Innovation Month took on a life of its own,” said Boulanger, who is a Program Committee member at The Venture Forum. “We are grateful to our partner organizations for joining us in celebrating our collective constituency of local entrepreneurs, inventors, and innovators.”

On April 14, The Venture Forum, which has been providing entrepreneurial education and mentorship for more than 20 years, will hold its ninth annual 5-Minute Pitch Contest at WPI’s Rubin Campus Center. For more information, visit theventureforum.org/Events or contact Patrick Tinsley, ptinsley@fletchertilton.com, 508-459-8211.

On April 23, from 6-9 pm, VentureMeets, a group of local entrepreneurs who meet monthly for seminars and networking, and will soon be celebrating its one year anniversary, will hold a free meetup/networking event, at the Compass Tavern. For more information, contact founder Kevin Anderson, 774-823-5156, kanderson@eoxity.com, and visit www.meetup.com/VentureMeets-WorcesterEntrepreneurMeetup/events/221209271/.

From April 28 to May 1, the Worcester Business Development Corporation (WBDC) will celebrate the opening of the Innovation Center of Worcester, downtown’s first start-up accelerator at 20 Franklin Street, with the following events: